Too Late
by commix-dreamer
Summary: A stubborn girl and a big bully who don't want to admit their love for each other… until it's too late. AU. Ichigo/ Rukia. Orihime bashing.


Summary: A stubborn girl and a big bully who don't want to admit their love for each other… until it's too late. AU. Ichigo/ Rukia. Orihime bashing.

Author's Note: This fanfic is set in an alternate universe where Ichigo and Rukia are in their last year of high school and are 17 years old. It doesn't include any sword fighting or spiritual stuff. And Rukia obviously does not live in Ichigo's closet.

Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the bleach I use under the sink.

I would like to dedicate this story, my first fanfic, to Miss Kuchiki and Miss Hitsugaya.

* * *

"…I love you…" was what Rukia heard. She looked up into a pair of dark brown eyes and orange hair of a person she never thought would have said those three words to her. She gasped and thought, _'No way! Am I dreaming?'_ Ichigo seemed to have read her thoughts and said, "No, you're not," before bending down to match her height. With Ichigo's soft breath on her lips, she closed her eyes and leaned forward.

"Riiiiiiiiing!" Rukia's eyes shot open as her alarm clock blared out to her once quiet bedroom.

"Oh great. I WAS dreaming." Rukia mumbled.

Frustrated, Rukia jumped out of bed, turned off her alarm clock and walked into her bathroom to start her daily routine.

While she had her shower and put on her school uniform, she could think of nothing but the dream. The entire time she was cooking and eating her breakfast, she still couldn't stop thinking about the dream. As she locked the door to her one-room apartment and set off to walk to school, the only thing on her mind was how embarrassing the dream was.

_'That has to be the fourth dream I had with Ichigo this month. What's going on with my head? Am I going crazy? Or worse, am I falling for him? ...No way! That's impossible! That guy's just a bully; an egoistic jerk, a pain in the ass, an arrogant bastard …and very handsome bully with a very gorgeous body… Ok… It's official, I'm crazy!'_ As Rukia's thoughts went on and on, she didn't notice her best friend as she came and walked beside her.

"GOOD MORNING, RUKIA!" Orihime yelled into Rukia's ear.

Unaffected, Rukia turned to her busty friend, muttered a greeting, and returned to her thoughts, which now included Orihime.

_'What was I thinking?! Orihime likes, no, loves Ichigo. I can't do this to her. So what if I fell for Ichigo? Orihime loved him since year one in high school… And they look good together… I mean, they both have orange hair, dark brown eyes, they're tall… and they both have gorgeous bodies… while I have black hair, purplish eye … I'm really short …and don't really have a nice body… I'm the total opposite of Ichigo. Not to mention we always fight.'_

After that last thought, Rukia felt depressed for some reason. _'I think I really do like him. Even if I do,'_ forgetting that Orihime is next to her, she muttered softly, "There's no way in hell he is going to find out."

"What?" Orihime asked, having to heard her mutter softly.

"Oh! Uhh… How are you today?" Rukia hesitantly asked.

Orihime, being her clueless self, answered, "I'm fine, no, FANTASTIC! You won't believe what I found yesterday!"Before Rukia could ask, Orihime shouted, "A new place to hang out with Ichigo and the gang!"

The moment Ichigo's name reached Rukia's eyes, her heart skipped a beat. "Oh, that sounds like fun. We should ask them later if they would want to go with us after school."

"Ask who later?" a voice asked behind them.

Before Rukia could turn towards the voice, she already knew who it was and her heart automatically began to beat faster.

Kurosaki Ichigo stood in front of them, hands in the pockets of his school uniform. After a moment of silence, Ichigo stared at the two girls in front of him and repeated, "So, who are you going to ask later?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Rukia said, "Well, Ichigo, I didn't know eavesdropping was your thing."

"I wasn't eavesdropping. It's just that you were talking too loudly. It's a surprise a midget like you could have such huge lungs," Ichigo replied, smirking.

Rukia answered with a kick at his shins, making him grunt in pain.

"What was that for, you brat?" Ichigo shouted, his hands on his hurting shins.

"That's for calling me a midget," Rukia shot back, "and this one is for calling me a brat." After saying that, Rukia tried to kick Ichigo again but he dodged out of the way and caught Rukia's leg with his hand, making her lose her balance.

"Do you really think that I'd fall for that a second time?" Ichigo said, smirking smugly.

"Well… yea," Rukia said, a little shock, from the ground. _'What was that about? Ichigo never tries to block my attacks as it doesn't really hurt him… that much. I wonder if —'_ Rukia's thoughts were cut short as a large hand appeared in front of her.

"Sorry for making you lose your balance," Ichigo muttered softly, waiting.

Shocked once again, Rukia took Ichigo's hand without thinking and managed to give a small thanks, before being pulled back up. They let go of each others' hands as soon as Rukia was standing up again.

_'She has such small hands.'_ Ichigo thought, suddenly wishing he could hold them once more.

_'I wonder what he is thinking of right now…,_' Rukia thought as she stared at Ichigo.

As the two continued to stare at each other, Orihime, who was getting angrier and angrier with every second, said (in her very loud voice) "Come on, guys, snap out of it! Let's get going before we're late for school!"

Both Ichigo and Rukia snapped back into reality and looked at Orihime with a guilty (Rukia) and pissed off (Ichigo) look_. 'Damn, I totally forgot about her,'_ they both thought in unison.

Rukia, who knew that this was just one of Orihime's tactics to get Ichigo's attention, played along with her. "Oh, you're right. Come on, last one to reach the classroom has to pay for my lunch." Rukia said before speeding off_. 'There you go, Orihime. I'm giving you a chance to be with Ichigo, so forgive me for taking his attention for so long,'_ Rukia thought sadly.

Ichigo stared after Rukia and started running, not wanting to lose to her, when suddenly a piercing voice shouted to him.

"Ichigo, WAIT!" Inoue shrieked from behind him and grabbed his bag, making him unable to move.

_'Damn, she caught me!'_ Ichigo thought. Ever since Ichigo found out from Ishida that Inoue was in love with him; he always tried to run away from her like she was a plague. The only time Ichigo ever talked to her was when Rukia was around, and he didn't want to let Rukia know that he didn't like her only female friend. He didn't want to find out what Rukia would do to him if she knew. _'Well, that's what you get for falling for the most violent girl in the world. Not to mention her wide knowledge of karate moves…'_

Ichigo's thoughts were cut short when he felt something claw into his arm and he winced in pain: Inoue had her claws, I mean, arms, around Ichigo's left arm.

"…What do you want, Inoue?" Ichigo asked quite harshly.

"Nothing. It's just that I've hurt my ankle during P.E. so I couldn't really walk properly," Inoue lied swiftly, ignoring the irritation in Ichigo's tone.

Ichigo, who was not going to give her the chance to lie, said, "I was at P.E and I didn't see anyone get hurt."

"Uhhm, well, I got myself hurt, uhh, after P.E." Inoue stuttered out.

'_Lucky save._' Ichigo thought and replied with a simple "Oh."

By the time they arrived to the school, Inoue was chatting away like nothing had happened with Ichigo silently blocking her out of his mind.

When they arrived outside the classroom, Inoue skipped inside first to greet her other friends, leaving Ichigo rubbing his arm outside. _'Finally! I thought she would never let go.'_

"Morning, Ichigo," a deep voice came from behind him.

Ichigo turned to Sado Yasutora A.K.A Chad, replied with a careless "Yo", and walked into the classroom with Chad trailing behind.

Before he could even take another step towards his desk, Rukia appeared in front of him.

"Hey, Ichigo! You're buying me lunch," Ichigo stared with a questioning look on his face, "because you arrived dead last," she finished.

Ichigo knew he would just get a kick if he talked back, so he sighed and answered with a soft "Fine".

Satisfied with his answer, Rukia smiled and said, "Thanks, Ichigo, you're a lifesaver."

Dazzled by one of her rare smiles, Ichigo replied with a nod and walked to his seat.

"Riiing!" went the school bell, signaling that it was time for the students to return to their seats. The teacher walked in and started to drone on and on about the proper procedure of how to dissect a frog.

Ichigo was looking at Rukia. She no longer had that smile on her face, but her usual blank look. _'I don't remember the last time she smiled like that. But… I'm not complaining. She looks cute with a smile. I wonder if I could make her smile like that again.'_ Ichigo unconsciously thought, with a smirk playing off his lips.

Unaware by Ichigo, someone behind him was turning green with envy. Inoue's thoughts were flying everywhere. _'What does Rukia think she's doing? Didn't I tell her that Ichigo is mine! After all, I only became her 'best friend' so that she'll be clear on who's the boss here! …Maybe I should just reveal the truth that no one wants to be her friend. Or I should just continue with this 'relationship' to get close to Ichigo as even though I hate to admit it, I know she's much closer to him than me.'_

Inoue battled with herself for awhile until she finally arrived at a conclusion, '_Ok then. I will be 'friends' for a little while longer until I can get Ichigo's loyalty to me. Maybe I'll even get Ichigo's rival (self-claimed), Ishida Uryu to help out. I could even plan something for my 'dear friend' Rukia—'_

While Inoue was plotting to herself, Rukia was in her own set of thoughts. _'I hope Orihime doesn't mind that I told Ichigo to buy me lunch, I mean, it's his fault that he came in last. And I didn't think he would actually agree to it… It was so kind and unexpecting of him to say so, I just had to smile. I hope he didn't think that my smile was weird or anything. On the other hand, he didn't even show any expression or say anything.'_

While all of the students were in their own thoughts, they didn't notice that the teacher had stopped talking and was trying to get their attention.

Frustrated, the teacher shouted, "OK, CLASS! SNAP OUT OF IT!"

There was a moment of silence as the students stopped talking. Some grumbled as they kept their paper planes away while others jerked awake from their naps. There was one unlucky boy whom sat right in front of the teacher and nearly fell off his chair when the high pitched voice almost burst his eardrums.

Ignoring the glares from her students, the teacher said, "Ok guys, you know what you're supposed to do, so get your butts off your chair and start moving!"

There was a scramble as everyone moved at the same time and jammed the doorway. Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, and Ishida (the smart ones) stood back as they waited for the rest of the class to clear out.

As Inoue was no longer there with her hungry eyes on him, Ichigo took this chance to ask Rukia what they were talking about earlier.

"Huh?" Rukia said with a curious look on her face.

"Don't tell me you forgot?" Ichigo looked at her with a blank look, "You said that I was eavesdropping."

Recollection flashed through Rukia's mind as her eyes blinked in surprise, "Why are you so curious?"

"…Because I'm sure I heard my name."

"Oh."

"Just 'oh'? Aren't you going to tell me what you were talking about with Inoue?"

"…Why don't you just ask Orihime, Ichigo?"

"Why don't you just tell me, huh?" Ichigo asked, upset that Rukia won't tell him. '_And I wouldn't want to talk to Inoue…'_

Rukia stared at Ichigo for awhile before saying, "Orihime said that she found a new place to hang out and wants to know if you and the gang could come with us after school."

"Oh, ok. I'm free today." Ichigo said, slightly surprised.

"That's good to know…"

The both of them walked together in comfortable silence, quietly enjoying each other's presence and blocking out the other students who were talking loudly among each other.

After trying to think about something to talk about, Ichigo came out with nothing and realized that he was walking blindly, having no idea of where they're going.

"So, uh, where are we going?"

Choking back on an insult, Rukia spoke in a monotone, "Lab. To dissect a frog."

"Oh… Want to be my lab partner?" Ichigo said without thinking. Realizing what he said, he turned quickly to face Rukia.

The shock on Rukia's face flashed by quickly and was replaced with a look of suspicion and a tiny bit of hope.

"Why would you want me as your lab partner?" Rukia asked, still suspicious.

Thinking fast, Ichigo questioned back, "Why can't I have you as my lab partner?"

Not wanting to lose, Rukia said calmly, "There are other girls. So why me?"

"Because you are the only girl that is willing to actually dissect a frog."

"…Fine." Rukia muttered silently, when a thought appeared suddenly, "Wait, what about your best friend, Chad?"

"…Just drop it, Rukia, you already accepted. And Chad already has a partner."

Rukia didn't retort back, which worried Ichigo.

As the both of them were in their own thoughts, they did not notice Ishida Uryu walking quietly behind them. 'Orihime-'sama' would want to hear about this later,' Ishida thought and made a mental note to tell her the next time he saw her.

When they reached the lab, Ichigo told Rukia to go ahead first to pick a table for them and that he will join her in awhile.

He stood outside the lab and grabbed Chad by the shoulder before he could walk into the lab.

"Hey Chad, uh, sorry, but I couldn't—"

"—Be my lab partner. Sure, don't worry. I overheard you talking to Rukia just now. Good work by the way, on having the guts to ask her to be your lab partner. I'm getting tired of you talking about her all the time and not to mention all that staring—"

"Ok ok ok! Keep it down! Someone might hear you!"

"Come on, Ichigo! When are you going to tell her that you're in love with her? And that you're moving tomorrow? I'm tired of seeing you bully her all the time. You're not 10 you know."

"Yea, I know that." Ichigo said, his face as bright as his hair, "Let's go in before they wonder what happened to us."

As they entered the class, the teacher just finished telling the class what they were supposed to do, "—draw and label your frog's internal organs and pass them up to me."

Getting to his seat, which was at the back of the lab, Ichigo asked Rukia, "So, what did I miss?"

Rukia turned to glare at him, "An entire speech on 'How to Dissect a Frog'."

"Ok. So, what are we supposed to do?"

"'**You're** going to get the dead frog from the freezer and **you** are going to dissect the frog. **I'm** going to draw and label." Rukia replied icily.

Trying to atone for his lateness, Ichigo said, "Fine. And I'm sorry for being late." Then he added in a sarcastic whisper, "Your Highness."

Rukia turned her head so fast that Ichigo almost fell off his high stool and asked with a glare, "What did you say?"

Not even needing to think twice, Ichigo shot back with a smirk, "I said Rukia. Unless you want me to call you by a different name like 'midget', 'shorty', 'loud-mouth', 'cutie'—." Ichigo quickly shut himself up.

Rukia was getting more and more depressed with every name the bully called her, but her head shot up with hope and surprise in her eyes when she heard the last word. "What was that?"

"Wh-What was what?" Ichigo stuttered.

"The last word you called me.", Rukia said confidently. 'There is no way I'm letting you go, Ichigo. I know exactly what I heard. But you're going to admit it.'

"What? You mean… 'loud-mouth'?" Ichigo said, trying to come up with a plan.

"Really~?" Rukia drawled, "Because I'm pretty sure I heard 'cutie' there somewhere."

The silence went on for about 5 minutes before Ichigo broke the ice by saying, "Well…you are cute." But added quickly, "Like a little kid!"

But Rukia did not hear that, because Rukia was in her own private heaven when Ichigo admitted that she was cute. But snapped out of it when she noticed Ichigo staring at her, waiting for a reply.

"'Weird' cute or 'pretty' cute?" Rukia asked quietly.

"The latter one…" Ichigo replied just as silently, his face turned to look away from her with his hand on his mouth, as if he was trying to cover up what he had said.

"Oh…Thanks." Rukia said, a smile on her face as she drew the frog Ichigo dissected on the paper without another word.

"Riiiinng!" the school bell rung, signaling that it was time for lunch and jolted the students from what they were doing.

The teacher announced that they had to first pass up their drawings and the dead frog in a box on the teacher's table.

Rukia took the drawing, handed it to the teacher and walked quickly out of the lab before Ichigo even had the chance to get up.

Only when Rukia was outside the canteen did she slow down her pace. '_That was close. Wait! Why do I have to run away from him? He was being so sweet. And now I'm running from him. I wonder what he thought about that—'_

Rukia's thoughts were cut short when a muscular arm was draped over her shoulders and a tired but familiar voice whispered into her ear, "Why didn't you wait for me, Rukia?"

Frozen on the spot, Rukia turned her head to the voice and there she stood, face to face with Ichigo.

Trying to keep her composure, Rukia shot back, "And why do I have to wait for you?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow and smirked amusedly. "I'm supposed to buy you lunch remember?"

They were still face to face so Rukia had trouble thinking straight and simply nodded.

Ichigo took that as a 'yes' and steered her to the doors of the canteen. Before he opened them, he took his arm off Rukia's shoulders, leaving the both of them longing for the other.

After buying their lunches, they went up to the school rooftop where the rest of the gang usually hung out. The both of them were keeping up some small talk on the way there.

The moment they got there, they were greeted by an overly-cheerful Inoue, who clung onto Ichigo's arm.

"Where have you been, Ichigo?" Inoue asked, smiling creepily at him and ignoring Rukia.

Trying to stop the urge to shake Inoue's hands of his arm, Ichigo answered in a fake cheery voice. "Oh. Just buying lunch for me and Rukia."

Controlling her anger was starting to make Inoue's voice more shrilly and it didn't help that Uryu told her what he overheard just now.

"Rukia?" Inoue almost shouted. Then in a steadier voice, "Why did you need to buy Rukia lunch?"

"I came in late today, so I lost the race and had to buy Rukia lunch." Ichigo stated simply.

"I thought **we **were not serious about it!" Inoue said, flustered.

"Well, **I** was serious and **you** were not. But you said that you hurt your leg so I wasn't going to leave an injured person behind," he said swiftly.

Before Inoue could say anything, Rukia asked in a surprised tone, "You hurt your leg? When? I was with you and I didn't see you hurt yourself."

Silence went on for about 30 seconds. Ichigo was smirking by now and Inoue was practically sweating bullets, trying to figure out what to say.

"Well," Inoue started, "I fell down on my way home. Ok? Now stop asking stupid questions. I'm hungry. Let's eat."

Satisfied with how flustered Inoue was, Ichigo said, still smirking, "Fine by me." Then he grabbed Rukia by her arm, dragged her towards Chad and sat down on the floor with Chad and Rukia at both of his sides.

Inoue stood at the same spot and stared at the trio. _'I was supposed to sit next to Ichigo! Who does the b***h thinks she is?!_' Inoue snarled in anger.

Regaining her composure, she sat down next to Rukia, her so called 'best friend', and started to talk to her like nothing happened. Uryu then came and sat next to Orihime, quietly eating his food. Rukia ate her lunch while nodding at everything Orihime was saying.

"So, did you tell her?" Chad said in his deep voice to Ichigo.

"Tell her what?" Ichigo dumbly replied.

"That you're moving and that you love—"

"Ok! I mean, no. I haven't yet. But… soon." Ichigo said sadly.

Chad just nodded and continued to eat his lunch.

It was quiet for a while, everyone was eating their lunch and Inoue was gabbing away to Uryu now, since Rukia has lost interest and was now sneaking peeks at Ichigo.

After eating their lunches, Inoue stood up and cleared her throat, earning the others' attention.

"You guys won't believe what I've found! Guess what?" Inoue said loudly, and continued without waiting for them to ask, "I've found a new place to hang out. It's in the forest behind the school. If we go deep enough, we'll find a cliff that overlooks the entire town. I'm sure it's a beautiful place."

Silence followed Inoue's speech as everyone just continued to stare at her. Disappointment was evident on Inoue's face as she expected them, especially Ichigo, to ask her for more details on the place or even compliment her on finding a new place as the old place was really boring(to her).

"'If' we go deep enough? Did you even go to the place even once? Because we all know that you and nature are not exactly the best of friends." Ichigo said.

"Well… Uryu was the one who found it and then he told me, so I thought it sounds like a nice place and then I told you guys. And as for nature and me, well, we could be best friends if we tried. After all, I could be friends with anyone I want." Inoue finished.

"Ok. Fine then. We'll go after school." Ichigo said. As Ichigo finished saying that, the school bell rung, signaling the end of lunch.

"See ya" "Bye" "Got to go," the gang exchanged goodbyes and went their separate ways to their classes.

~O~O~O~

"Riiinng!" the school bell rung as students ran out of classes and met with their friends to figure out what they were going to do now since school was over.

"Whoa!" Rukia yelled as a biker raced by, making her trip over. But before she hit the ground, an arm reached out to grab and steady her by the waist.

"Thank yo—," Rukia started to say but cut off when she noticed who it was that had helped her.

"Are you hurt?" Ichigo asked, worry evident on his face.

"Eh? Oh. No. I'm fine." Rukia said, surprised.

Relieved, Ichigo sighed and said, "Ok. Good."

Rukia was going to say something but she noticed that Ichigo was still holding her so closely to him. She felt a blush creeping up to her face.

After taking notice of their position, instead of letting go, Ichigo held on to her tighter. _'Well. I guess there is no time better than the present.'_ Ichigo thought.

"Rukia…" Ichigo whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

Rukia looked up to face him. "Yes?" she whispered just as quietly.

"I– I lov—", Ichigo stuttered out and was cut off by a loud interruption. "Hello gang! Your tour guide, Inoue Orihime has arrived!"

Before Inoue could even glance around for them, Rukia pushed Ichigo hard enough to make him fall backwards.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Ichigo said, feeling quite pissed at Inoue for the interruption.

In Inoue's tiny brain, all her could figure out was: 1) her Ichigo was hurt and 2) Rukia was as red as a tomato, but that could pass as a really high fever. After she thought of all that, she gave an ear-piercing scream and yelled loud enough for everyone to hear, "ICHIGO! What happened? Did you break anything?"

Ichigo's ears were still numb from all that screaming- he couldn't even think of how to get up much less make a full sentence.

Suddenly, a pair of hands caught hold of his arms and pulled him up.

"With all that screaming, I just knew you had to be here," a voice behind him said, amused.

"Thanks, Chad." Ichigo said, steadying himself. Then he remembered something, or rather, someone, was missing. "Where's Rukia?! Did she survive that horrible screeching—", Ichigo panicked, but stopped when a pair of earplugs appeared in front of his face.

"I used these, you idiot." Rukia said, swinging the earplugs in front of his face. "I should have guessed that a dumb guy like you wouldn't be smart enough to use these. But… thanks for worrying." Rukia turned her back to Ichigo and walked towards Inoue, smiling.

Inoue, who had watched the entire scene, was boiling with anger and hatred. Controlling her anger seemed impossible with all the sickening love‐stricken faces in front of her. But she still had a plan and she wasn't about to let her anger ruin it. In a much, much more controlled voice, she said calmly to the gang, "Come on, guys. Let's get going before the sun sets."

As they walked towards the forest, Ishida came out from behind the school and joined them.

When they stood in front of the forest, Ichigo asked, "Hey Ishida! Did you really find this 'place' that overlooks the town?"

Ishida stared at him and said, "Yes, I did find this place. And it's safe. So, you don't need to worry your ass off."

Ichigo glared at him and just nodded. Ichigo, Ishida, and Chad then walked into the forest first, leaving both of the girls behind.

Rukia stared after them, mostly Ichigo, and came to a decision. She turned towards Orihime, who was staring at her, and said, "Orihime, I need to tell you something."

"Well, say it. We don't have all day." Orihime said, trying to sound friendlier.

Rukia looked at Orihime in the eyes and said, "I'm in love with Ichigo."

"…And?"

"It's just that you're my best friend. And now, we love the same guy, I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"If you don't want to ruin our 'friendship', then why are you telling me that you love him? Why don't you just give up then?"

"I'm telling you this, because I'm going to fight for him too. And I'm not going to lose to you. But just because we're going to fight for him, it doesn't mean that we have to hate each other. If one of us wins him, then the other one of us will give up and happy for them. I'm willing to accept whoever Ichigo chooses and be happy for him either way, but are you willing to do that?"

Orihime took a deep breath and thought, 'I just needed to play through this and then it will be all over.' "Fine. I'm willing to do just that," Orihime said loudly.

Rukia put out her hand in front in Orihime, "Shake for it."

Forcing her body to obey, Orihime shook Rukia's hand and let go of it quickly.

When Rukia was about to go to the same path the guys had when through, Orihime called out to her, "Wait, the guys might be already at the cliff, so let's use the shortcut."

Rukia looked puzzled. "There's a shortcut? Why didn't the guys use it then?"

"Uryu must have forgotten about it but fortunately he told me."Orihime smiled winningly.

"Oh. Ok then. Lead the way."

They entered from the darkest part of the forest.

After roughly 10 minutes, Rukia and Orihime are still walking through the forest, well, more like crawling through muck.

"Are we there yet, Orihime? I got a feeling that it's getting deeper over here." Rukia called out to Orihime, who was behind her.

"Yea, I'm pretty sure it's there. Just right in front of you."

Rukia walked on forward and stopped when she reached a shallow pit in front of her. "Eh? Are you sure this is the right way, Orihime?" Rukia asked, unaware of the dark look that appeared on Orihime's face, "Because I'm pretty sure that we reached a dead end." The moment Rukia said that, a pair of hand shoved her head-first into the pit.

~O~O~O~

"Where the hell are they?!" Ichigo shouted to the open sky.

"Calm down, Ichigo." Chad said from behind him.

"I am calm." Ichigo replied, frustrated. He lost count on how many times they had told him to calm down.

"If that's calm, I don't want to know what panic is…" Ishida muttered from behind them.

"I heard that!" Ichigo growled at him.

"Ok ok. Calm down already," Ishida said to him with his hands up in surrender.

"Is there another trail that leads here?" Ichigo asked him, as if Ishida hadn't said anything.

"No!" Ishida said with his teeth clenched and asked, "And how many times exactly are you planning to ask me the same question? That is already the 6th time you've asked me!"

"Do you THINK there is another trail that leads here?" Ichigo asked him again without any hesitation in his voice.

"No!" Ishida finally shouted back, tired of all his questions. Thinking quickly of something to say to shut him up, Ishida smirked and said, "You love her." It was a statement rather than a question.

Ichigo started to open his mouth, only to close it a second later. "H– her?", he stuttered out.

Ishida's smirk went wider as he said, "Yes, her. Rukia obviously. I can't imagine you loving Inoue." Ishida was silent as he waited for Ichigo to regain what was left of his pride. After Ichigo regained his composure, he looked at Ishida straight into his eyes and replied, "Yea. I love her." Wanting to at least embarrass the guy, Ichigo asked him a question of his own, "And you love Inoue?" He wasn't sure so he phrased it like a question.

But instead of stuttering like how Ichigo did, Ishida answered in an offended voice, "You must be joking. What makes you think that I would even like her?"

The question caught Ichigo off guard as he stuttered out, "Coz you kept on following—"

"—only because she was blackmailing me!" Ishida quickly explained, not wanting anyone to think that he would ever like Inoue.

"You're a star student! So what could she be blackmailing you about?" Ichigo asked, slightly happy that there was another guy that wasn't her follower.

Ishida was silent for awhile, trying to decide whether or not to trust him.

"Come on, Ishida! You can trust me. We could even be friends." An awkward silence followed Ichigo's statement. "Or football buddies?"

Ishida let out an relieved sigh and muttered "Thank God." Then he looked straight at him and asked, "You swear you won't tell anyone?" Without waiting for a reply, he blurted out, "I'm living with my girlfriend."

"…What's wrong with that?"

"The school doesn't allow students living together. It's 'inappropriate' as they say it. Inoue saw us walking out of the apartment together. She threatened to tell the school board if I don't follow her orders."

"Why didn't you threaten her back? The school doesn't allow sex either."

"What!? She has been doing IT? With who? How do you know anyway?"

"She has been doing IT with a lot of guys. Most of the students know about her but none of them have proof. She makes sure that the guy is really drunk before going to a motel. And I know exactly which motel it is. Chad and I were walking by the love motel near the bookshop when we saw her with a drunk classmate checking in."

"(Longest silence ever)…Are you serious? You must be joking! That's disgusting!" Ishida said with his mouth wide open in horror.

"Just get a picture, she goes there every day at 10, then threaten her back. You and your girlfriend will be safe." Ichigo said with a smirk but then added curiously, "Who is your girlfriend anyway?"

"Kurotsuchi Nemu," Ishida said without hesitation.

"No way! Emo Nemu?" Ichigo said in astonishment.

"Yea…why?"

"I thought she doesn't have any friends."

"She has been my childhood friend for almost 10 years. I'm her only friend."

"Oh. That explains it… Is she worth it?"

"Definitely," was Ishida's only reply.

Before Ichigo could say anything, it started to rain. The three guys, including Chad, who was watching the scene in front of him the entire time, decided to walk back to the school and wait for the girls to return.

~O~O~O~

"Ouch!" Rukia squealed as she fell on her butt for the 5th time. "Why are the walls of this pit so slippery and slimy?" Rukia shouted from the pit, hoping that someone will hear her. As she tried to climb the pit again, she thought about what happened an hour ago with her ex-best friend.

**Flashback Starts**

"Ahhh!" Rukia screamed as she was pushed from behind and yelped in pain when she hit head-first onto the pit's ground. "Ouch…" Rukia moan in pain as she rubbed the top of the head. "What was that for, Orihime?" Rukia asked, looking upwards to the entrance of the pit. Seeing no one there, she called out, "Orihime?"

In silence, Orihime walked up to the side of the pit and looked down to Rukia. "How do you know it was me?" she asked.

"Because you're the only one here." Rukia said, hurt that it really was her best friend that pushed her. "Why did you do it?"

"For fun. I mean, come on, it was kind of funny on how you fell into the pit." Orihime smirked at her.

"Wh—" Rukia started but was cut off with a rude, "Shut up already!" from the other girl.

"You already had your time to speak, and now it's only fair if I have mine," Orihime said, trying to control her anger. Without waiting for a reply, she blurted out harshly, "I hate you."

Rukia's mouth dropped open. But before she could say anything, Orihime continued, "You don't know how to follow orders at all! I told you that Ichigo is mine and you still went on having those petty fights you have every day with him. Not to mention all the times you have stolen his attention from me—"

"I thought you are my best friend!" Rukia screamed at her, making Orihime glare down at her.

"You must be joking! How stupid can you be? The only reason I even have to stand near you is because of Ichigo, seeing that he's always with YOU!" Orihime screeched at her. Regaining her composure, Orihime spoke in a deadly calm voice, "I don't even know what Ichigo sees in you. I hope it's not girlfriend material since I'm around. I'm sure the only thing you know about Ichigo is his name and that he is SMOKING HOT! I bet you don't even know that he's moving today. And did I forget to mention…"

As Orhime continued to talk, Rukia had frozen on the spot as she tried to understand Orihime's last sentence 'he's moving away'.

"Orihime! What do you mean—," Rukia shouted, interrupting Orihime.

"And that's Inoue to you! You are no friend of mine!" Inoue screeched at Rukia, clearly pissed for the interruption.

"Inoue!" Rukia shouted back, glaring furiously at Inoue. "What do you mean by 'he's moving today'?"

Trying not to show any fear on her face, Inoue said, "Not that it's any of your business, Ichigo's dad opened a new clinic in another town, at least an hour away, so they're going to move there."

Rukia looked at the ground, trying to process the information of Ichigo moving. _'I didn't know. Why didn't he tell me?_' Rukia thought, but before she could delve any deeper into her thoughts, Inoue said something that made her face go pale.

"That's why I'm going to confess to him."

Rukia's head shot up to look at Inoue. "What?"

"I'm going to confess to Ichigo." Inoue said, as if she was talking to a 5 year old. "And we both know who he's going to choose. So why don't you stay here for a while as I go and talk to him." With that said, she turned and started to walk away.

As she felt small drops of water on her face, Rukia shouted, "Come on, Inoue! Don't be like that. It's going to rain soon so stop playing around and get me out of here."

Without turning back, Inoue shouted back at Rukia with a sigh, "Can't you think logically, Kuchiki?! Why would I help you out of that pit? I'll get filthy, and I really want to look hot for Ichigo. I mean, what would he think when I confess with mud all over me?"

_'Well, he'll be too busy thinking about the confession, rather than how you look.'_ Rukia thought quietly, but said out loud, "Ichigo is not the type of guy to look at your face and body, but your heart and personality!"

"Don't be naïve, Kuchiki! Nowadays, guys as hot as Ichigo only want good looks and a nice body. And I have both. So give it up," Inoue shouted as her make-up ran down her face, making her look like a ghost.

Rukia stayed silent as Inoue proceeded to walk back to the school. With tears and rain running down her face, she only had three main thoughts repeating over and over in her mind: 1) She no longer had a best friend, or any female friend in particular, 2) She was going to lose the only guy she has ever loved to someone, she realized, she hardly knew and 3) She knew that she was going to hurt someone she never thought she would ever want to hurt.

**Flashback Ends**

"I've got to get out of here." Rukia said to herself as she tried to wipe off the tears and rain from her face. But it was no use as the rain came down even harder on her. As Rukia looked up to the raining sky, she saw the sides of the pit began to slide mud off them, and before she could even do anything, a huge chunk of mud fell on top of her, burying her under it. Before it could completely cover her, she uttered one last word, "Ichigo…"

~O~O~O~

"Do you think the girls are waiting for us at the cliff area?" Ichigo asked the guys for the 4th time.

"It's raining. Rukia is smart enough for the both of them. They'll be back any minute." Chad said, as two of the three guys sat down on the floor of the school's walkway. Where they sat, they could see the entrance of the forest perfectly.

"Fine…" Ichigo said as he reluctantly sat down. He couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened, but couldn't figure out what it was. As they sat in peaceful silence waiting patiently (except for Ichigo) for the girls to return, the rain started to come down quicker and harder, making it almost impossible to see properly.

Finally, after 10 minutes, a shriek was heard as a figure stumbled out of the forest. Jumping up, the guys wondered what kind of animal could make a sound like that. As the 'animal' came closer, the guys realized that the 'animal' was actually Inoue covered in mud and her make-up smeared all over her face.

Realizing the Rukia was not with Inoue, Ichigo rushed out under the heavy rain to get to Inoue.

Inoue's face turned from disgust to anticipation. 'Maybe he realized that he loves me when I was in that horrible forest. Maybe he's even going to confess.' Inoue thought, a smug smile on her lips. 'Beat that, Kuchiki!' "Ichigo…" Inoue called, sweetly and expectantly as Ichigo stopped to stand into front of her. But before she could say anything else, Ichigo grabbed hold of her shoulders and shook her back and forth.

"Where is Rukia?" Ichigo shouted as he looked at her face and to the forest entrance back and forth as if Rukia would appear if he looked hard enough.

Inoue tried to think of a lie but was too busy staring at Ichigo. She never saw Ichigo in such a panic before. '_This isn't my Ichigo_,' she thought unbelieving.

"Where is Rukia?" Ichigo forced himself to repeat more calmly.

But instead of telling him where Rukia was, Inoue foolishly asked, "Why do you even care? She's a nobody; a pawn for people like me and you. And—," Inoue's voice died out when she saw the deadly look on Ichigo's face.

Ichigo's hands tightened on Inoue's shoulders."Don't even think about putting me and you in the same group," he said with as much venom he could put in without shouting.

But Inoue refused to listen and continued passionately, "But Ichigo, you and I are so much alike. We're both are tall, hot, gorgeous, smart, and popular. We even look alike. It shows how much we belong with each other."

Ichigo remained quiet the entire time. Inoue smiled, thinking that Ichigo has realized where he stood: next to her in the popular clique. But that moment didn't last long as she felt Ichigo's hand tighten some more on her shoulders.

Inoue gave out a yelp of pain as she looked up to Ichigo and froze. Ichigo's face no longer held suppressed anger; instead he looked like a wild animal about to go in for the kill. He then leaned forward, almost close enough to kiss her, and said in a calm monotone voice,

"Between you and a skunk, I would rather stink so bad that you will leave me alone. Between you and a guy, I would rather be gay. Between you and death itself, I'm willing to walk side by side with it, just to be able to get away from you." Then a smile appeared on his face and his voice softened, "Between you and Rukia, I will always choose her. It's not exactly a competition because she will always win no matter what happens. She will always be my one and only choice," he ended lovingly.

After that last statement, Ichigo was pulled off Inoue, leaving her standing still in fear. Chad pulled Ichigo's arms together as if he was trying to restrain him from doing anything rash. He then whispered loudly enough for Ichigo to hear under the heavy rain. "As much as I agree with you, Ichigo, I won't stand for anyone, even my best friend, hurting a woman no matter how much she deserves it. And I'm sure—no, I know, that my sister is able to take care of herself," Chad finished with pride in his eyes.

By now, Ichigo already had his head over his shoulder to look at Chad. "Sister?" he whispered. He was pretty sure that his best friend didn't have a sister or a family for that matter.

Chad looked confused for a moment and then he realized what Ichigo was talking about. "Oh. Yea. I forgot that I didn't tell you yet. With all the drama and moving…" Chad trailed off. Ichigo looked impatiently at him for an explanation. "Are you sure you want to talk under the rain?" Chad asked hopefully, trying to find a way out of the conversation.

"We're already wet anyway," Ichigo said, still looking over his shoulder.

"She is just like a sister to me, ok!? Just like how you're my brother. You guys are my only family," Chad muttered. "So stop staring at me and find out what happened to Rukia."

Before Ichigo could think about Chad's statement, he remembered Rukia and where she was. He jumped and slipped out of Chad's grip so fast that Chad didn't even have time to process what was happening.

However, before Ichigo could even reach the edge of the forest, he felt a pair of hands wrapped themselves around his arm. He stopped running as he was pulled backwards and turned to glare at whoever that was holding on to him.

Inoue stood there, looking frightened but determined. She asked harshly, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Going to look for Rukia." Ichigo answered just as harshly, trying to shake off her hands but she held on tighter.

"But it's too dangerous. It's too slippery for you to walk through the mud. You might even slide off a cliff," Inoue said desperately, trying to give petty excuses to make sure Ichigo didn't run off to HER. "—And it's raining too heavily to be able to see anything out there." Inoue continued on. '_She is definitely not going to lose Ichigo to HER!'_

"I don't care. I have to know that she's alright."

"But, but…" Inoue stuttered. '_Well, it was now or never_.' Inoue blurted out a loud, "I love you!"

That statement made Ichigo stop trying to pull his arm from her hands and stare at her. "Wha—"

"I love you," Inoue repeated, now feeling quite proud to be able to say it. Seeing the look on Ichigo's face, she said confidently, "I love you, Ichigo Kurosaki, and I want you to be mine."

Silence met her statement as she thought smugly, _'How cute! He's shock that someone as beautiful and hot as me would confess to him. I wonder what he's going to say. Or do…_'

"Please don't tell me that you confessed because you think I would accept you," Ichigo said softly, like a prayer.

Inoue's look of smugness was replaced by a look of shock and confusion. "Huh? But I thought—," Inoue stopped short because of what Ichigo said next pierced her heart (if she even had one).

"…After what I said just now, you still don't understand, huh? Then let me get straight to the point: I hate you." Even though Ichigo knew it was cruel to say that, he needed her to stop hurting Rukia. "I don't feel the same way you do towards me. I can't even stand you, much less being your friend." He stared at her, "I'm sorry. I just don't love you."

"But all the times you were so nice to me—"

"Only because you were Rukia's only friend—"

"But why don't you love me then?"

"I found out that the only reason Rukia was not able to get any other friends. YOU were spreading rumors about her. And you would threaten those that try to talk to her. And—"

"But why do you have to fall for HER?!" Inoue screeched.

"Well, I have you to thank for. If it wasn't for you and all that rumors, I would have never felt the need to protect her. The more time I spend with her, the more time I used to get to know her, the unknown feeling I had when I was near her, finding out what was that feeling and the pure happiness I felt when I get to make her smile. I wouldn't have felt all those things if it wasn't for you and your jealousy." Ichigo smiled at Inoue, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet a wonderful girl like Rukia Kuchiki."

At that, Inoue let go of his arm and let her hands fall to her side. Ichigo turned his back at her and started to run. But before he could even move one step, he was tackled by Ishida and Chad.

"How many more times are you guys planning to stop me from finding Rukia?" Ichigo shouted, frustrated.

"Think logically, Kurosaki! What Inoue said about the danger of looking for Kuchiki in the rain is true. So let us at least wait for the storm to calm down then we'll go," Ishida said calmly.

Ichigo looked at the forest and then back again to Ishida but he couldn't keep his anger down. "Fine!" he growled.

Ishida nodded his head. He and Chad kept a tight hold on Ichigo as they walked back to the hallway. Inoue was shadowed them, silently keeping to herself.

When they reached the hallway, Ishida and Ichigo sat down, not wanting to drip water everywhere. Inoue went off to find some towels to dry themselves up. Chad suddenly announced that he had something to do and he would return in a while. Ishida and Ichigo sat there, leaning against the wall, facing each other.

"So," Ichigo began, "since when did 'Orihime-sama' became 'Inoue'? Don't look so shocked that I noticed. It was just at the back of my mind."

"…I decided to follow your 'advice' and rebel against her. I'm tired of following her everywhere like a lost puppy," Ishida said, a smile creeping up his face.

"Good work, man. I hope for you and your girlfriend's happiness." Ichigo said, laughing.

"Thanks." Ishida said, as they slipped into a comfortable silence.

After a couple of minutes, Chad came back, holding his handphone tightly in his hand. "Listen up, guys. I need to go somewhere to pick up your 'moving-away' gift, Ichigo. So I really need you to stay here. Don't move a muscle until I come back. Okay?"

"…No promises, man. Once the rain is not that heavy, I'm going out to find Rukia. But I'll try."

"Fine. See ya," Chad said as he walked away looking rather distracted.

At that exact moment, Inoue came out of the school building with a bunch of towels stacked up on her open arms. She silently walked up to them, gave them each a towel, went to a corner and sat down quietly, making herself invisible to both guys as they ignored her.

After 25 minutes, the thunderstorm slowed down and only the light dribble of rain drops on the roof could be heard.

"Let's go," Ichigo said determinedly as he got up. "Inoue, you led the way." Inoue went straight to the front while Ichigo and Ishida walked side by side behind her.

Walking deeper into the forest, Ichigo was getting more and more pissed as they walked through mud that reached up to their knees. While they were crawling through the mud, Ichigo asked questions like, "Why did you bring her here?" "The world is a big place and you just had to drag her here?" "What were you thinking in that brain of yours?" Inoue wisely kept quiet, afraid of what would happen to her when Ichigo finds out that she purposefully left Kuchiki in a pit.

When they arrived to the end the trail, Ichigo's eyes widened when he saw the pit. Somehow, he just knew what had occured there and was furious at Inoue and worried for Rukia. His feelings of worry triumphed so he ran to the edge of the pit and peered over the edge, afraid of what he might find.

Inoue and Ishida were standing away from the pit, watching Ichigo's face for his next reaction. Worry and relief passed through his face as he looked into the pit, but it was quickly replaced with a look of fury and more worry. The both of them took a step back.

"Where is she?" Ichigo shouted to Inoue, thinking that she lied to him.

Inoue stuttered. "But she was there when I left her—"

"You left her here? Alone? No wait! I bet you did it on purpose. You must have hid her somewhere." Ichigo glared at her.

By now Inoue was whimpering, "No. I didn't hide her. She was right here when I left her. She must have climbed out. I'm sorry."

It took some effort but finally, Ichigo's face softened as he looked at the pitiful girl. "Ok. I believe you. Let's look for her."

"But she might have gone back to the school," Ishida said smartly.

_'He's right'_, Ichigo thought, '_She's smart enough to follow the same trail she took back to the school. And—… Damn it! I completely forgot about what Chad said. He told me to stay there!'_

"Come on! Let's go back to the school," Ichigo said hurriedly as they plowed through the muddy trail.

When the three of them finally reached the school, they saw an annoyed Chad standing at the edge of the hallway waiting for them. "I thought I told you to wait here," Chad said to Ichigo.

"Sorry. I was too focused on finding Rukia," Ichigo explained.

"Nah. It's ok. Anyway, your present is at the school's roof top." But before Ichigo could move a step, Chad grabbed his arm. "And just a warning, I know that you will love the gift. But I really don't know what 'her' reaction will be. So, good luck."

Ichigo's brain was a bit slow at processing what Chad had said, but when it did, he ran all the way to the rooftop.

When he stood in front of the door leading to the rooftop, he took a deep breath, trying to slow down his ragged breaths from running all the way and from the nervousness that was weighing down his heart.

"Ok! I can do this," Ichigo muttered to himself, "I mean, even if she rejects me, it's not like end of the world… But I don't want that to happen. And a guy is only a kid if he doesn't have the guts to confess his own feelings… and I really hope I'm man enough to do what I'm going to do and not make a fool out of myself…"

Finally, after his long pep talk, Ichigo opened the door. The exact moment he saw what was at the other side of the door, Ichigo's brain shut down and he completely forgot what he had wanted to say. Worry etched across his face as he stared at Rukia, drenched and covered in mud, standing under the light rain at the edge of the balcony.

"Rukia, are you ok?" Ichigo said as he stepped forward.

"I'm fine, but my clothes isn't. It's going to take me forever to get the mud off so I'll just let the rain do the job," Rukia answered softly, trying to keep her tone light.

"Where were you? I've been trying to find you. What have you been doing all this time?"

"Well, I've been crawling in mud, lost my best friend, gained an enemy and fell into a pit." Rukia said in a monotone, her voice cracking.

"How do you feel about it?" Ichigo asked quietly.

"Frustrated!" Rukia yelled, her hands clenched by her side.

"And?"

"What do you mean by 'and?' I'm frustrated. I'm angry. I'm pissed. I'm—"

"—sad," Ichigo finished.

"No! I'm not—"

"Then why are you crying?" Ichigo asked calmly.

Rukia froze and used the palm of her hands to cover her face. "No, I'm not." She turned her face away from Ichigo.

Ichigo walked forward till he stood in front of her. He grabbed hold of both her wrists in his hands and pulled them down from her face. Her eyes were swollen and red from the crying and under them, a trail of tears continued to fall down her face. "Yes. You are." Ichigo whispered as he pulled her into a hug.

Instead of pushing him away, she held on to him and cried into his already wet shirt. Ichigo gave out encouraging words now and then. "You will be fine." "Inoue doesn't deserve to be your friend." "At least you came out of that pit alive, didn't you?" "Didn't those TV people always say that a mud pack could keep your face all shiny?" "I'm not going anywhere." "No one will hurt you while I'm around." "I'll always be by your side no matter how far we are from each other." "I'll be here if you want me to be." "I won't leave you."

They were no longer standing but sitting on the ground. Ichigo's back was against the balcony while Rukia sat between his legs, lying against his chest. The rain settled into a small drizzle. Rukia had stopped crying and neither of them said anything after that. But now, it had been quite some time and Ichigo was getting uncomfortable with the silence.

"So, Chad got you out of the pit." Ichigo said it like a statement he couldn't quite believe.

"Yes, I called him."

"You called him," Ichigo repeated. "Why?" _'Why him and not me_?'

"Because he's my brother."

"Huh?" Ichigo was… confused.

"He's like a brother to me. And, likewise, he thinks of me like a sister," Rukia explained calmly.

"When did that happen?"

"When he was trying to confess to Tatsuki. He needed some advise and I gave it to him."

"Arisawa Tatsuki? The tom-boy?"

"Yup!"

"Oh. Has he confessed yet?"

"… They're already dating… I thought Chad was your best friend."

"He is! Maybe he's too busy to tell me…" Ichigo tried to make up an excuse. Then he shook his head and quickly changed the subject, "Anyway, you should be friends with Tatsuki."

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "Why~?"she drawled.

"She used to be best friends with Inoue, that is, until Inoue dumped her for the popular clique."

"Maybe I will…" Rukia whispered. She knew clearly what she was supposed to do but she was trying to put it off as long as possible.

"Rukia…" Ichigo whispered into her ear.

"Yea?"

"Can I tell you something?"

"Go ahead," she answered mindlessly as she turned around to look up at him, sitting on her legs with her hands folded on her lap. She somehow felt like she should give him her undivided attention as she looked up to a pair of warm brown eyes.

At that exact moment, Ichigo lost all of the 'guts' he had. The pep talk he had previously given himself now seemed so unclear as it clotted up his brain. The nervousness he thought he got rid of returned and gripped at his heart, making it harder to breath. "I love you," he uttered feebly.

"What?" Rukia asked in disbelief.

Ichigo took a long breath and said loudly and clearly, "I love you, Kuchiki Rukia!"He smiled and laughed at Rukia's reaction. Her hand flew to cover her mouth as tears of joy came pouring down her face.

"Wh-what?" she whispered from behind her hands/

Ichigo smirked at her, not the mocking smirk he always wore but like a smile you give out to the people you dearly love. He took hold of Rukia's wrists and pulled them down from her face to her lap, making her stare up into his eyes.

"I love you…." Ichigo whispered before bending down to kiss her. When Ichigo's lips touched hers, she lost track of all her thoughts and closed her eyes. The kiss wasn't wild or hard, rather, it was soft and slow. He was so desperate for his feeling to reach her. And it did, she would never forget about him and his feelings as she cried silent tears. She was so happy yet sad at the same time. What she was supposed to do was very clear in her mind but her heart simply refused to listen. She wanted to accept his feelings but she knew that she'd only break his heart in the end. The thought of breaking his heart made her own clench as she harshly pushed Ichigo away from her and broke away from his lips.

Ichigo stared at her with wide eyes as she stood up, leaving on him the floor. "Rukia-," he started but was cut off when Rukia said something that made his heart drop.

"You're moving," she said it like a statement rather than a question.

"I-," Ichigo tried to explain but once more, he was cut off by Rukia.

"I don't think we could last a long-distance relationship. I mean, come on, the both of us clash like fire and ice. We fight like every single day and to be honest, it's getting quite tiring," Rukia said, her voice quivering.

But Ichigo didn't notice the lie as he listened to everything she said, his head bowed low and his orange bangs covering his eyes.

Rukia was trying her best to sound like a heartless Inoue but was failing miserably. She wanted to end it as soon as possible so that she would be able to crawl into her bed and just cry. Her voice shook as she said her last lie to Ichigo.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo. I just don't love you."

Without waiting for a reply, Rukia turned and ran away, not wanting to see his face. She let the tears and raindrops mingle and run freely down her face, uncaring of how she looked to others. '_Never again will I lie to hurt someone,'_ Rukia vowed silently.

Ichigo flinched as Rukia delivered the final blow and his heart shattered on impact. He didn't look up when she ran as he thought about her last words, the same words he had said to another girl just moments ago.

One week later

"How is she?" Ishida asked while buying his lunch at the school canteen.

"Depressed, dead, empty. Choose any word you like- they all fit. She still feels bad for rejecting Ichigo, I guess. I mean, she did have feelings for him too," Chad replied, feeling worried for his little sister.

"So where is she now?"

"On the rooftop," said Chad. Then suddenly feeling a presence nearby, they both turned their heads just in time to catch sight of an orangey-yellow blur disappearing through the door to the rooftop.

"Was that-," Ishida tried to ask.

"Nah. It couldn't be," Chad replied.

After a moment of awkward silence, Chad tried to change the subject. "So… where's Inoue?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Don't you usually hang out with her?"

"You must be joking, right? I couldn't even look at her without wanting to hit her."

"Then what happened?" She has been really quiet this week, not that I'm complaining."

"I told everyone about her."

"What?! Won't she tell the teachers about you and Nemu?"

"Let's just say that I have been doing a little research and blackmailing. And now, I want to see how the damn slut is going to fend for herself now that her other 'pets' have found out about her activities."

"Oh well. Serves her right, I guess."

"I know. And I'm sure the other guys think so too."

"Poor Inoue," Chad chuckled with a smile on his face.

~O~O~O~

Rukia stood at the balcony of the school rooftop, tears flowing freely down her face as she wiped them off again with the back of her hand. '_Ichigo,' _she thought again for the millionth time. She couldn't seem to forget the look on his face when she told him that she didn't love him. She also couldn't bear the heavy feeling on her chest for lying to him. "Ichigo," she whispered quietly, her chin on the cold balcony railing.

"Yes?" a voice said from behind her.

Rukia's head shot up and she spun her entire body to face the voice, her hands clenched onto the balcony behind her. There, she had never been so shocked and happy to see Ichigo in front of her wearing his school uniform. "What are you doing here?" she yelled at him with her mouth wide open.

Ichigo smirked at her. "I am a student here, aren't I?" Ichigo said smugly, liking her reaction.

"But you moved away!" Rukia shouted, staring at him.

"Well yeah. But how did you know?" Ichigo frowned at her.

She just replied with one word. "Inoue."

Ichigo continued to stare at her. "And how the hell does she know?"

"How on Earth am I supposed what goes through her spy network. But it does look like I was the last one to know about your move," she yelled at him.

"Well it isn't any of your business whether or not I moved," he yelled back at her.

Rukia cringed at that. '_That's right, it isn't any of my business.'_

Ichigo seemed to realize his mistake as he rubbed his neck, trying to figure out what he was going to say next. "That's not what I meant…." He said lamely.

Rukia's anger rose as she stood as tall as possible to glare at him with the coldest look she could muster. Unfortunately for her, her petite form could only reach the bottom of his chin. "That's not what you mean?!" she yelled at him. "Then what on Earth could you mean? I think you made that clear enough that it wasn't any of my business."

"I just didn't think you cared enough!" Ichigo yelled back.

"Of course I care! I thought you were my friend but I guess I was the only one thinking about it," Rukia snarled at him.

Unable to keep his temper contained, Ichigo yelled back, "Well what if I didn't want to be your friend? What if I wanted something more than that?!"

Rukia was confused. Half of her was shocked that Ichigo was saying these things to her without any embarrassment and the other half of her was furious that he was making all the troubles sound like it was her fault. So Rukia did what Rukia did best. She kicked him.

Ichigo let out a string of curses as he held his injured knee, glaring at her with a look that could melt ice.

But Rukia did not waver from his glare. She was too mad to back down. But who was **she** to be mad about what Ichigo said. She didn't want to be JUST friends with him. She wanted to be something more too. But when she heard about his move, she knew that their 'relationship' wouldn't last. '_And that'_, she thought, '_was the only stupid reason why I had to reject his confession. Because he was moving FAR, FAR AWAY. It would NEVER work. And yet, here he is, standing right in front of me when he was supposed to be FAR, FAR AWAY. Even when I keep telling myself that he was never coming back and that I should forget about him.'_

Ichigo stood there as he watched Rukia's expressions turn from anger to sadness and to deep grief. Ichigo decided right there and then that he never wanted to see the look of total sorrow across Rukia's face. With that thought as motivation, he took a step forward and boldly wrapped Rukia into his strong arms. As he tilted his head downwards to ask her what was wrong, Rukia tilted hers up and captured his lips in hers.

It was fast and rough, much unlike their first kiss. But Ichigo decided that he liked it much more this way. There was another thing that he noticed that gave him hope. It was the way she kissed him. That same desperate need for her to show him her feelings. The same way he kissed her almost a week ago.

But Ichigo wasn't able to enjoy it for long. As Rukia pulled her lips back away from him, Ichigo saw the same look of grief on her face. The face of someone who lost something really important. "Was the kiss THAT bad?" He joked resignedly.

Rukia looked startled at first before bursting out laughing at Ichigo's question. And just like that, the pressure on both of them broke and Ichigo laughed along with her.

If someone were to see them, they would think that they were a crazily in love couple laughing at absolutely nothing. When the laughing finally ceased, Rukia looked at Ichigo with a serious expression. "I need some answers," she stated.

Ichigo looked at her with an equally serious expression. "Only if you answer mine too," he replied.

"Fine then," she said evenly. "Why do you not want to be my friend?"

Ichigo laughed at that. When he stopped, he pushed the bangs of her hair to the side of her face as he whispered, "I think that it's quite obvious that I want to be someone more than just friends," he smirked at her.

Rukia stopped a blush from rising up to her face and slapped Ichigo's hand away from her face. "You're not going to be forgiven that easily, Kurosaki," she said, smirking as well.

Ichigo was amused with her reaction and just shrugged it off. His face turned grim as he thought about the question he was going to ask. "Why do you look so sad after our kiss?" he whispered. "It was like you lost something important."

A look of hesitation crossed Rukia's face as she bit her lip. Ichigo saw that and quickly reminded her on their agreement.

She took a large breath of air before quickly admitting, "I thought that I had lost you."

Ichigo stared at her and asked, "How did you lose me?"

Rukia yelled, "By you moving away, you IDIOT!"

Ichigo started laughing again but this time it echoed around them. He didn't stop laughing until Rukia kicked him in the knees again.

With tears of laughter and pain in his eyes, Ichigo explained, "Yea, my house may have moved to another town but I refuse to move another school. I mean, come on, there's no way I'm going anywhere away from you." He smiled at her, not that wicked smirk, but an honest caring smile.

Rukia let her blush go right up her face as she stood savouring the romantic moment… until Ichigo ruined the moment by saying "You should be grateful that I'm willing to do this cause I need to wake up TWO hours earlier to catch the bus to school over here."

In the very same second, Rukia kicked his already bruised knees. As Ichigo howled in pain yet again, Rukia stood there smiling coldly at him, "So you're telling me that I spent an entire week being heartbroken over you when you were still going to come back here anyway?!"

As Rukia raised her hand, Ichigo thought that she was going to slap him and shut his eyes. But instead of a hard impact on his face, he felt something soft on his lips. Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise as she pulled away, grinning at him. "The next time you do something way, way too late I will kick your ass upside down, Ichigo Kurosaki," she smiled sweetly at him.

**THE END**


End file.
